'Operation Safe Neighborhood' nabs 35 Apopka drug suspects

Apopka Police Chief Robert Manley says suspected drug dealers in his city have two options: "Stop or go to jail."

Law enforcement authorities issued 103 arrest warrants for 65 suspects Wednesday in "Operation Safe Neighborhood," the culmination of a five-month investigation into drug sales on neighborhood street corners in Apopka.

Officers began serving the arrest and search warrants at 1 p.m. and within two hours, had made more than 30 arrests. By the end of the day, 35 drug suspects had been nabbed.

The operation was a joint initiative headed up by the Apopka Police Department's Strategic Investigation Unit and the Orange County Sheriff's Office narcotics unit. Officers from Maitland and Winter Park police departments also took part in the operation.

It was meant to disrupt the street-level distribution of crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs. And Sheriff Jerry Demings said this kind of operation will not stop in Apopka.

"We're coming to a neighborhood near them soon," he said in a warning to drug dealers throughout Orange County. "These are repeat offenders. We want charges to stick. We want jail time and prison time for them."

Authorities said 47-year-old Gregory Lee Bridges was one of the top offenders on the list of 65 suspects. Manley said Bridges has a lengthy rap sheet of 22 prior arrests. Many of his charges were drug-related.

At one point during the roundup Wednesday, three men and four women were face-down in the grass in handcuffs as swarms of SWAT team officers raided a home just blocks away from the Apopka police department. Officers confiscated alcohol and tobacco the occupants were accused of selling illegally.

Angela Johnson, the homeowner, was arrested. The others were detained as police searched but were then released.

Manley said police heard about the "bootleg drug store" allegedly run out of Johnson's home at a city council meeting and said they had recently heard there may have been prostitution in the home as well. The stripper pole detectives found in the home may have confirmed those suspicions, Manley said.

During the police activity, dozens of neighbors stood outside watching. Roscoe Griffin — who was born and raised on the same block where the first warrant was executed — welcomed the crackdown.

"I don't see anything wrong with the police coming," Griffin said. "If you come down here and sell drugs and indulge in illegal activity, [police] can come all they want to."

Neighborhood children watched as officers arrested seven men at a convenience store across the street from Phyllis Wheatley Elementary.

"We want to ensure our kids have a safe and enjoyable summer and not have to worry about walking through open air drug sales," Manley said. "Street level sales have emerged as a neighborhood problem and the community has had enough of it."

Dozens of the suspects were not apprehended Wednesdaybut Manley said it's only a matter of time before they are all arrested. He said he's confident the suspects will have little hope of fighting the charges.

"Video evidence is going to be hard for them to beat," he said. "We're going to put some of these career habitual criminals away and clean up our community."